Posted By Mark Reichman On Apr 13 2009 @ 1:35 am In New York Mets | No Comments

Tomorrow night the Mets franchise hands over the keys to their expensive new car known as Citi Field to Mike Pelfrey, a 25 year old right hander entering his third full year with the team. How he performs under the bright lights could say a lot about how far the Mets got his season.

The Mets first week has been up and down. Fans hope the inconsistency is not a microcosm of the season to come. Like the 60’s band “Santana” which consisted of Carlos and a bunch of other guys, the Mets rotation so far seems to have a brilliant Johan Santana and a bunch of other guys. The inconsistency of Pelfrey, Maine and Perez have led to some of the 9-7, 8-6 type of scores we’ve seen in the first week.

Pelfrey has the biggest upside of the Mets “other guys”. He’s young and still learning the nuances of the game and developing his on field persona. Case in point was Pelfrey’s debut against Cincinnati, when he gave up a three run homer to Joey Votto in the bottom of the first that promptly erased the 2-0 lead he had been handed. Pelfrey did impress me however with his ability to shake off the early trouble and come out stronger. He showed toughness of spirit in willing the Mets to a 5-4 victory in a way that his 7.20 ERA 2 strikeout performance don’t describe. The most apt statistic for Pelfrey was the one “W” he hung on to barely win.

Great to see Ryan Church back being a dangerous hitter and looking like he did at the beginning of the season last year before his concussion woes. Its also good to see Carlos Delgado NOT looking like he did at the beginning of last season when he struggled mightily. So far Delgado has been selective at the plate, fouling off pitches with two strikes, staying back, not overloading on his swing. Carlos’s approach is looking more like when he terrorized opposing pitchers in August and September, even if the power numbers aren’t off the charts yet. The Mets offense has so far covered up the conspicuous absence of production from David Wright, look for that to instantly be a story if the Mets drop a couple in a row this week.